First day with my new PT

My new fab friend Ebba Bucht (super fit, tall, former model and runs House of Dagmar) introduced me to Magnus Lygdbäck, one of the top personal trainers in Stockholm. In the past 2 month, with my relocation, too many goodbye parties and drinks, etc, I’ve managed to gain about 5 lbs (I don’t actually ever weigh myself except at the doctor’s office so this is just a guess based on how my clothing is fitting me). Magnus is putting me on a strict 1 month program starting today. I will be blogging about my experience on a weekly basis and will keep you posted on my progress. This will hopefully keep me accountable!

My goal: get more toned and have more energy.

Day 1:

I just landed yesterday morning on a redeye flight from NYC. I was there for about 10 days, picking up my Swedish VISA... I knew that I was starting this program this week so last week I indulged in too many amazing dinners at Babbo, Morimoto, Freeman’s, Lure, Armani Ristorante (just opened in the new Armani flagship store on 5th and 56th, it’s amazing architecturally, click here to see pictures), secret sushi place in Tribeca hidden in a Italian restaurant and a few too many beers on Saint Patrick’s Day at The Perfect Pint. Last night I was totally jetlagged and couldn’t fall asleep until 1am… I was not excited about waking up at 6:30am for a 7am personal training session!

Prior to training: I ran out of time and grabbed a LÄRABAR (my favorite healthy bar made of 100% natural ingredients). This one was pistachios, dates and cashews. We’ve come a long way since those nasty Powerbars. But I recently discovered http://www.youbars.com/ a website that allows you to create your own bar, name it and they’ll ship it to you. You can add all these super foods like gogi berries, flaxseeds, etc. One bar costs about $3 and a case of 13 bars about $39. I don’t think they ship to Sweden yet though…

Today’s session:

• 6 minute warm-up on the rowing machine. I recently read that Halle Barry gets her amazing back from doing the rowing machines regularly.


• 3 super sets of cardio; 40 step lunges, 6 quick sprints, 1 minute alternating hops using a step board).


• 3 super sets of leg and arm power exercises using the resistance band/exetube (go to and you can order the exetube here by clicking on tools and then strength). Seriously the best and most versatile tool you can have and travel with
• 2 sets of 20 (on each side) side arm raises with a dumbbell in push up position and 15 abs raises.

How I feel after this session: totally exhausted but strangely energized!
Magnus is going to the Canary Islands and then skiing for 10 day… But he gave me program to follow. I’ll blogging about my progress so stay tuned!

How a sports bra can save you from saggy breasts!

They come in different shapes and sizes, but they have one thing in common; gravity affects them all. Ladies, this is critically IMPORTANT and gentlemen, please inform the women you care about in your life.

I am a size B cup and used to hate wearing sports bras and thought they were unnecessary for my size. Until I learned the following...

The global lingerie market was approximately $30 billion in 2007. I checked my amex bill and realized that I had spent several hundreds of dollars last year buying lingerie... That nice lacy bra will be useless after some time if you do not take care of your lady lumps while working out. Studies show that breast movement is reduced by only 38% with an ordinary bra, while a sports bra reduces movement with 74%. The breasts are held in place by a very fine ligaments called Cooper’s ligaments. Excessive movement causes strain on these ligaments, and over time they will stretch no matter how big or small your breasts are...

Once your ligaments stretch there is no return. Unlike a muscle, they don’t firm up no matter what you do!

A couple more scary facts:

1. Over 50% of women experience breast pain when exercising, which simply isn’t acceptable.
   
2. A survey shows that 73% of women are not wearing a sports bra or the proper sports bra when they exercise.

A good sports bra is just as important as a good pair of trainers. It should be an essential item in every woman’s wardrobe and there is no place for compromises. Here is a list of considerations when shopping for a sports bra (but you should really have a selection of sports bras depending of the impact of your activity).

1. Not only should the fit and the support be perfect, the fabric should wick moisture away from the body and be quick drying so that the effects of perspiration are minimized.
   
2. A great sports bra should be comfortable. For high impact sports, it should almost feel slightly small.


3. The base band. It should be wide and wick off moisture effectively so that you don’t risk chafing in that sensitive area along the bottom of the bra.
   
4. After about 72 washes the elastic starts to lose resilience and it is time to invest in a new sports bra.
   
5. If you weight changes, get re-measured and replace your sports bras.
   
6. You know that sports top with the built-in sports bra..? Okay, seriously, doesn’t work for medium to high impact activities. You need to wear a separate sports bra!

The below guide shows you a selection of bras available at Casall for the specific impact level of the activity:

Från My Casall

Okay, my next blog will be about some the top trainers in Manhattan. Stay tuned and protect your breasts!

What is your Casall?

Welcome to the unofficial Casall blog! I recently left a life in New York that consisted of intense 100+ hours weeks at Goldman Sachs in i-banking and private equity at the height of Wall Street, a beautiful apartment right on Bleecker Street, across from the Marc Jacobs stores and way too close to Magnolia’s Bakery in the West Village, an entrepreneurial venture into fashion consulting and advisory working with several top global designers to work with this seemingly undiscovered (at least in the US and to me) incredible Swedish activewear (CasallWEAR), fitness equipment (CasallTOOL) wellness company. I thought I was “in-the-know” but apparently I was 28 years behind in “discovering” this brand with an incredible and loyal cult-like following and already distributed in 18 countries.

I am just your typical end-consumer, I love to shop, I care about health and wellness and I want to stay in good shape/get in better shape. I try to work out at least a couple times a week but sometimes just feel uninspired. I got sick of shopping at Nike, Adidas, yadayada because they simply didn’t provide me the quality and style that I wanted in my cloths. I expect the top quality and design in my other clothing, why not have the same expectations in activewear? When I am working, I typically wear way-too-expensive high heels (definitely have a shoe fetish), business casual attire or the latest designer frock. On the weekends and when I am going around town in Manhattan, I always found it annoying that I had to change out of my hideous gym cloth into more appropriate comfortable attire such as James Perse, Ella Moss.... I have to admit I went through a really SHORT juicy couture phase.

Then one day, I discovered Casall at a trunk show at Equinox gym...I was first impressed by style of the clothing, beautiful and functional pieces with just the right touch of fashionable style...unlike Stella for Adidas, which to be honest, seems somewhat contrived and totally not functional to me or lululemon, which may be functional but misses the mark on the style for me. Upon further inspection, I loved the feel of the fabric, it wasn’t the usual polyester scratchy feel of most other brands, the fabric felt amazingly soft but a tag educated me that this was Casall Rapidry, an exclusive cotton-like fabric that wicks away your sweat to keep you comfortable and dry. After I tried on a pair of their classic jazz pants, I was then truly sold...we all know how difficult it is to find the perfect pair of pants...these pants made my legs look thinner and I have since learned from our talented and diligent design team that they strategically place seams and cuts to provide the best flattering fit and hold...

So here I am! Living in Stockholm, in a 2nd hand apartment in Gardet, and working with this incredible team of passionate, talented people with the main goal to create products, services and experiences that inspires you to perform your best, look your best and feel your best. Casall is not a brand that tells you to “just do it”, we want to inspire YOU to get off your butt, put on your stylish CasallWEAR, pick up your CasallTOOL and do some fun and effective exercises... it is also a company that truly cares, with high ethical standards to always do the best and minimize the negative impact on our environment. I was truly captivated by this brand and am soo excited for the opportunity to work with this company and want to make it my goal to spread the word.

Wellness is obviously beyond just the clothing and equipment you use. There is so much to learn about the types of exercises you do, how often, your nutrition, your mentality, your environment etc. This is a lifestyle that we refer to as Total Wellness Lifestyle and Casall ‘s mission is to provide the components you need, intellectually and physically to live it. Here’s where the blog comes in...I would like to research, interview, test and blog about the most talked about fitness trends in the active wellness lifestyle space.

Please comment and send me suggestions if you believe you are an expert or know of an expert that I can interview and test with...Also, send me questions on any fitness topics you’d like to explore and I will do my best to dig into them. This blog is met to be a casual and open dialogue where I hope we will all learn a bit to inspire us to live a healthier and happier life.

To learn more about Casall, please visit our new website and subscribe to this blog via any reader: www.casall.com